Tag Archives: Wedding

Unblemished – Sermon on Ephesians 5:22-33 for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Ephesians 5:22-33

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is a sermon on marriage. When I’ve preached on marriage in the past, I’ve offered a disclaimer, and I’m going to do that again today. This sermon isn’t intended to address all the different aspects of marriage. We’d be here for days and weeks. And this is a mixed audience. Many of you are currently married. Some have been through divorce. Some of you aren’t married, at least not yet. Some of you might never get married; know that Scripture says that remaining single is a good gift from God (see 1 Co. 7). And some of you have been married but are now widowed. You’ll hear in a minute that the reason being widowed is so hard is that you have, very literally, lost a part of yourself. To you, be comforted by Christ and the fact that your spouse will rise again (Jn. 11:23).

My intention with this sermon is show how marriage is God’s idea. Then, I’ll make four assertions about marriage to show how it is a good gift from God. Also, with those four assertions, I’d like to offer some Biblical advice for your marriage. If you have any questions about things I don’t address, feel free to ask me. So, with that said, are you ready?

When God created man (singular) in His image, He created them (plural) male and female (Gen. 1:27). Part of man (and here, please think ‘mankind’ or ‘humanity’) is to have a duality – two parts, or even better two persons. Scripture teaches that there is one God (Dt. 6:4), but three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt. 3:16-17; Mt. 28:19). The creation of man (again think ‘mankind) in the image of God is that man has a plurality which we see in Adam, the male, and the woman,[1] the female.

In Gen. 2:18-25, Scripture gives us the play-by-play of the creation of mankind as man and woman. But before the play-by-play we learn how in Gen. 1, God gave Himself a grade each day of creation. Day 1, God sees the light He created and sees that it is good – A+ (Gen. 1:4). Then, Days 2, 3, 4, and 5, God sees what He makes and it’s all good. A+’s all around (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Finally, on Day 6 God creates mankind to be the crown of His creation and sees that it was very good (Gen. 1:31) – A+++! But, again, Gen. 2:18-25 gives a little more insight into Day 6. God created Adam and decided it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (Gen. 2:18). God wasn’t saying that because He made a mistake. He was saying that to show Adam the goodness of what He was about to do.

God put Adam to sleep, removes Adam’s rib (in Hebrew it’s literally Adam’s ‘side’), and from that chunk of Adam, God created Adam’s bride (Gen. 2:21-22). And Adam was really happy when he saw his bride. He said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Then, we have the statement that gets quoted in this text from Eph., “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31).

So, from its beginning and institution, God made marriage to be one man, who has given of himself, to have a bride who is literally from his own flesh. Dear saints, this is what marriage is, and it doesn’t matter how the world might try to redefine it. This one man and one woman union, this way that husband and wife complement and complete each other is God’s design, God’s invention, and God’s very good gift to all mankind.

In a real way, we can say that everyone who has ever lived and will ever live is here because of marriage. Even if the conception and birth of a child happened without a marriage (and instead a distortion of it), that individual is procreated by a man and a woman engaging in an act that God gave as a gift for marriage. I’m keeping this sermon PG, but, again, if you have any questions about what I said there, feel free to talk with me.

Keeping in mind what marriage is, we can talk about these four assertions that Scripture makes about marriage.

First, every marriage is God’s work, God’s joining. Jesus plainly says this about marriage. He talks about a man leaving his parents and being joined to his wife and becoming one flesh. Then our Lord says, “What God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mt. 19:6; Mk. 10:9). To you who are married, remember this. Even when things get tough, even when you get into fights and arguments, even when you struggle, remind yourself, “God joined me to that person. My husband/my wife is God’s good gift to me.”

Second assertion, marriage is good. We already know this because God created the institution of marriage before He saw that everything He had made was very good – again that A+++ grade. But can we also see that marriage is good because of how the devil attacks it. I could spend weeks on how he attacks it, but I won’t. The devil hates marriage because he envies humans because we have the ability to procreate and he doesn’t (Mt. 22:30). Satan hates all marriages because they remind him of Christ and the Church. He also hates them because they are how children are procreated, which reminds him of God becoming flesh to crush his head (Gen. 3:15). So, the devil attacks marriage from all directions. Because marriage is good, Scripture’s advice to you who are married is this: defend your marriage against all attacks. Be in God’s Word together as a family. Be quick to forgive each other when you do wrong. Because of the Fall, marriages are built on the foundation of forgiveness. If your spouse does something wrong and apologizes, don’t just say, “Oh, that’s ok.” Instead, say, “I forgive you.” The words ‘sorry’ and ‘I forgive’ need to be normal, regular vocabulary in marriages.

That leads me to the third assertion. Marriage is hard work, but even that is good. It’s an delusion to think that the best marriages happen when a couple is ‘completely compatible’ with each other. It’s a delusion because we are sinners, and no two sinners are completely compatible. Sinners look out for their own interests and not the interests of others. So, in your marriages, sacrifice for each other and for your children. Don’t insist on your own way. Just as God took a chunk of Adam to create marriage, marriages are still a continual, sacrificial giving of self for the benefit of the spouse (Eph. 5:25).

Finally, fourth. Marriage is a mystery (Eph 5:32). We think we know what marriage is, but we can only scratch the surface of the mystery of marriage. Remember, God is the One who joins (Mt. 19:6; Mk. 10:9) a husband and wife together in marriage. It isn’t them making a choice to get married. God joins them, and God continues to join you to your spouse each and every day.

But the greatest mystery of marriage is that marriage is one of the ways that God manifests Himself. In marriage, God manifests Himself as the Groom of you, believer. You, the Church, are His bride. He gives Himself up for you. He sanctifies you, making you holy. He cleanses you by Baptism, by washing of water with His Word.

Dear Charlotte, today in your Baptism, God washed and cleansed you so that you would be His. Because of your Baptism, you are completely and totally unblemished. All you believers here today, God did that for you as well in your Baptism.

Dear saints, you are the unblemished Bride of Christ. The reason you are unblemished is that He has made you unblemished, and God doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t cut any corners. So, rejoice that you are His Bride. And strive to make His love for you the foundation upon which you build your marriage. The marriage feast of the Lamb is coming soon. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

[1] She isn’t given the name “Eve” until after the Fall in Gen. 3:20.

Stepping In – Sermon on John 2:1-11 for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

John 2:1-11

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have become drunk, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This text is so rich; it’s a pile of treasure for preachers. This whole week, I felt like Scrooge McDuck taking a daily swim in all the wealth.

The main point of the text is that Jesus supplies more mercifully and abundantly than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Christ manifests His glory by turning 120-180 gallons of water into wine for a bunch of people who are drunk. Most English translations have the master of the feast say in v. 10, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine.” Every other place that word gets used in the New Testament (Lk. 12:45; Eph. 5:18; 1 Th. 5:7; and Rev. 17:2), it is a reference to drinking too much alcohol and is condemned. Do not – I repeat, DO NOT – take this text to mean that Jesus is ok with getting drunk. Instead, see that in turning water into wine, Jesus is giving sinful people good things they do not deserve and cannot fully appreciate. That is the definition and nature of mercy, and God’s glory is to give mercy (Jn. 1:14).

My fellow failures, Jesus gives you the full forgiveness of your sins even though He knows that you will turn around and fall into the same sin tomorrow. And when you fall into the same sin over and over, repent, and confess again. Jesus will answer with His mercy again. That is the main point of this text.

But there are many other gems here. We could consider how Jesus removes all human efforts to purify ourselves. He makes the stone jars that are there for man-made purification rites hold wine instead of water. Or, we could spend a lot of time talking about how much God loves marriage and weddings. Jesus makes sure that the celebration of the union of man and woman as husband and wife keeps going by providing for the feast. God created marriage, He blesses marriage, and He sustains joy in marriage.

Again, this text is a treasure-trove for preachers. But today, we are going to consider what this text has to preach to us about prayer. Yes, Jesus turning water into wine has a lot to teach us about prayer, so let’s get to that.

In Jesus’ day, wedding feasts would last several days, typically a whole week. At some point during this feast, [1] the wine runs out. The custom in Jesus’ day was for the groom and his family to pay for the wedding and the feast that followed. But here, Mary steps in, “They have no wine.” The wine wasn’t Mary’s responsibility. It isn’t one of her kids getting married; if it were, she would have told Jesus, “We have no wine.” But she says, “They have no wine.”

Having no wine is a fairly trivial thing and something we probably wouldn’t think Jesus would get involved in. It isn’t like someone is demon possessed, leprous, blind, lame, or dead. Those are typically the times Jesus steps in for a miracle. Even in the feeding of the five and four thousand, Jesus is concerned that the people won’t make it home because they will faint on the way. No one is in physical or spiritual danger at this feast because they ran out of wine. 

Now that being said, running out of wine at a wedding feast in that culture would mean public humiliation and disgrace. It’s impossible to make a direct equivalent between the customs of Jesus’ day and ours, but here’s my best shot. Imagine you get invited to a wedding. You love the couple and excited for their marriage, and you RSVP indicating that you would like the bone-in tomahawk ribeye (rare, of course) and chicken cordon bleu for the reception. (And yes, that would be a really fancy wedding reception.) But after the wedding, you go to where the reception is supposed to be only to find out the party has been cancelled because the couple didn’t pay the caterer and venue, so the doors are locked. For the rest of your life, you would remember that the wedding gift you bought for the couple was way too expensive. (In saying that, I’m assuming the custom is to buy a gift that is similar to the amount spent on the reception.)

Again, Mary has or nothing to do with this quandary of the wine running out. But here, she presents this problem to Jesus as though she is responsible for keeping the feast kept going. And Jesus initially responds, “What is that to you and to Me. My hour has not yet come.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ hour is His Passion and cross (see Jn. 12:23, 27; 17:1). In other words, according to Jesus, fixing this problem will cost Jesus His life – eventually. (There is a whole sermon there too.)

Even though His response sounds rude, Mary trusts that Jesus will do what is right and good. So, she steps in a little further telling the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Jesus directs the servants to fill the six jars full of water, and He miraculously turns them into wine. This would be equivalent to between 750 and 900 bottles of wine. Jesus steps in because Mary had stepped in seeking Jesus’ help in a problem that is fairly minor and more of a luxury than a need, and Jesus responds with abundance. And this is where the text has something to say about prayer – or, even more importantly, the grace and mercy of our God who answers prayer.

Only a few people know where the wine came from. The servants, the disciples, and Mary knew, but no one else at the feast did. The master of the feast, the guests, and the groom didn’t know the Source of the wine. For the most part, the miracle is done in secret. As best as we can tell, the groom has no clue about the embarrassment and shame he was spared because Mary stepped in by her prayer, and Jesus stepped in to answer her petition. So, here are the two things this text teaches us about prayer. 

First, we benefit from the prayers of others when they step in and intercede for us. Dear saints, we are like the groom in this account. The way John records this miracle, the groom is a necessary character, but he’s almost invisible. The groom doesn’t say or do anything except listen to the master of the feast call him an idiot for serving the good wine to guests who can’t appreciate it. The groom goes stumbling through the wedding feast unaware of what is happening behind the scenes and completely dependent on the prayers of others who interceded for him. He simply benefits from Jesus’ miraculous provision because Mary stepped in and prayed.

Now, I don’t think you and I can even begin to imagine how many millions of people have stepped in and prayed for us, maybe not by name, but with a general prayer that God has answered in a way that blesses you. If we could see how God answers those prayers through governing all of creation; by commanding His angel armies to protect and defend us; and by using His infinite power, wisdom, and might to cause all things to work together for our good (Ro. 8:28), if we could see all of that, we would fall on our faces in humility and praise.

And the second thought on prayer from this text is that we should pray for others because Jesus steps in by answering our prayers with His grace, mercy, and abundant provision. Each week in our corporate prayer we pray for all sorts of people we will never meet. We pray that they would hear God’s Word taught and preached; that God would protect families, husbands, wives, children, widows, and orphans; that God would provide our nation with good leaders, good economic conditions, and good laws; that God would heal those who are sick; etc. I don’t know what your thought is about that prayer, but I would encourage you to imagine it as all of us going into battle together. As we pray corporately, we aren’t individual soldiers fighting on our own. We are a while squad or battalion fighting a spiritual battle together as one. So, each week, listen to that prayer, and as it concludes with, “Lord, in Your mercy…” you pray with me, “hear our prayer.”

And as you go through your week, be a soldier fighting the spiritual battles around you through prayer. When you hear of someone in need, pray for them. It can be as simple as, “Lord, have mercy.” When you hear that something good has happened, pray, “God be praised.” 

Don’t be concerned with how trivial or silly your prayer might sound to God. In Romans 8:26, Paul says that none of us, and he includes himself in this, none of us know how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. God loves to hear your prayers, the Holy Spirit loves to interpret those prayers, and the almighty God of armies will always answer those prayers in the way He knows is best.

Dear saints, God gives better than we deserve and better than we can even appreciate. And He invites you now to come to this altar where He will do another miracle by giving you His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sin. Here, Christ gives better than you deserve and more than you can appreciate. Come to His table and receive a foretaste of the great wedding feast to come. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] We don’t know how many days had elapsed during this wedding feast before the wine ran out. When John talks about “the third day” in v. 1, he’s making a connection to the sixth day of creation when God created mankind and instituted marriage. If you go back to John 1, you see John start to number days. Day 1 – Jn. 1:19-28. Day 2 – Jn. 2:29-34. Day 3 – Jn. 1:35-42. Day 4 – Jn. 1:43-51. Day 6 begins in our text with the phrase “on the third day” (i.e. ‘after, but including, day four’).